Liquid Water on Mars: Lakes Might Not Be Liquid After All

It’s a huge step back in our search for alien life.

Transcript

00:00For years, planetary scientists and astronomers have been pretty sure that

00:07under the southern ice cap on the Martian surface lies large reserves of

00:11liquid water. That's because Science Alert reports when radar signals were

00:14fired at the area back in 2018, they hit something extremely radar reflective

00:18just under a mile below the surface of the planet. And when more radar signals

00:22were fired at other areas, the results were the same, leading experts to believe

00:26this was probably a vast network of underwater lakes. But now those hopes may

00:30be evaporating. Experts say the region is far too cold for water to stay in liquid

00:34form, with some geophysicists adding that the water would need either a local heat

00:38source or be extremely salty. And since Mars is no longer volcanically active

00:42and the surface doesn't point to salty minerals being in high supply, that's

00:46unlikely. So what was the radar reflective substance? According to

00:49computer simulations, probably just frozen clay. Frozen water will no doubt

00:53be useful for humans living on the red planet. However, it is much less likely to

00:57harbor living organisms, meaning the trail in the search for life on Mars

01:01just went cold.